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“We needed this one, and McKale showed up,� he said after the Wildcats beat No. 25 Baylor 81-70. “Thank you.�

McKale will probably have to keep showing up. Not only do many Big 12 opponents play the sort of physical game that demands every ounce of energy possible, including energy drawn from the stands, but it’s also, well, the standard.

That much was made plainly obvious after the very first set of Big 12 visitors came to town on Dec. 30. On that night, after ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ beat TCU 90-81 before an announced crowd of 13,560, current TCU and former Kansas center Ernest Udeh was asked to compare McKale to the many Big 12 venues he has played in.

“Um, it was a great atmosphere,� Udeh said. “I always love to see when the fans are in it, even though we’re the away team. This place was great to play.

“Obviously, there’s some places that I definitely have on my top five, but this place was great to play in.�

Then, after the overwhelmingly red-clad McKale fans stood up often during 40 minutes Tuesday, cheering the Wildcats as they built leads of up to 27 points and also when their lead shrunk to just nine late in the game, veteran Baylor coach Scott Drew was asked how McKale compared to what he normally sees.

“Every atmosphere is like this,� Drew said, chuckling softly. “I don’t know about the new schools but that’s pretty much the beauty (of the Big 12). And the Texas schools that didn’t have that (atmosphere) made smaller arenas so they do.�

So far this season, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is averaging 13,615 fans in the 14,688-seat McKale Center, and 13,544 over three Big 12 games so far. But those are announced crowds that don’t always reflect exactly how many people are in the building and certainly not how loud they are.

On Tuesday, with the Zona Zoo section pretty much back in full force for the first time for a Big 12 game because the school’s spring semester started Wednesday, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ announced a crowd of 14,034, though the upper sections appeared at least a third empty, suggesting an in-house crowd of about 13,000.

In any case, the lower bowl was full, fans were wearing red more than ever due to a UA promotion, and Lloyd noticed a difference.

“Our fans are great,� Lloyd said. “McKale is such an advantage when everyone shows up.�

On Tuesday, the Wildcats may have used that advantage to help collect enough energy to outrebound a Baylor team that is normally dominant on the glass, 31-29.

Part of UA’s advantage may also have been due to early foul trouble that led to a career-low-tying four rebounds from Baylor power forward Norchad Omier, but the Wildcats at least made it difficult for the Bears to get a second shot at the basket.

On Saturday, in an 88-80 win over UCF, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ couldn’t put the Knights away despite leading by up to 17 points in the second half in part because UCF scored 23 points off its 20 offensive rebounds. Misses, often, turned eventually into makes.

But on Tuesday, Baylor had just seven offensive rebounds, scoring only five points off them.

“It’s super important,� Lloyd said. “You look at statistics, and the Big 12 is a rebounding conference. Every team rebounds. Iowa State, one of the best things they do is rebound. Houston, the best thing they do is rebound, among other things. Kansas can be great on the glass.

“You have to be able to go toe-to-toe on the glass or you’re going to have some tough nights.�

Of course, it’s impossible to quantify exactly how much fan support can fuel a team’s rebounding, though effort is always at least part of the equation on the glass.

And Baylor guard Robert Wright acknowledged that McKale crowd did play a role in the Bears’ first-half slump and their late revival, cutting the lead under 10 with three minutes left.

“I think their aggressiveness just had us� early, Wright said. “We were missing a lot of shots, missing open guys, just not making the right decisions. Then once we settled down in the second half, and the crowd (did) a little bit, too… we settle down, we start finding guys, start hitting open shots and we just start rolling and defending.�

Maybe if McKale stays consistently noisy, the Wildcats’ opponents may not find it so easy to rally.

For that, Lloyd can only hope.

“My dream — I have a lot of dreams — is that every home game in the Big 12 should be sold out,� Lloyd said. “If we don’t sell it out for a directional school in the nonconference, I don’t love it, but maybe I’ll understand that. But every Big 12 game should be sold out.

“Our fan base is awesome. Our players deserve it. So my plea to the fans is no empty seat. It was great Tuesday. It was an awesome atmosphere, but these guys deserve that. The program deserves that. They don’t deserve it because of me. They deserve it because of the 60 years of history of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ basketball and what it means to this community.â€�

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